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The Fort Bragg Cartel
 | |
| Author | Seth Harp |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Dan John Miller[1] |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction, True crime |
| Publisher | Viking |
| Publication date | August 12, 2025 |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | 9780593655085 |
The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces is a non-fiction book by investigative journalist Seth Harp, first published by Viking in August 2025. The book investigates murder and drug trafficking committed on and around Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army installation in Fayetteville, North Carolina that is home to a large number of special operations forces, including the elite Delta Force.
Background
Before becoming a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, Harp was a lawyer and worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. During college and law school, he served in the United States Army Reserve and did one tour of duty in Iraq.[2][3]
The Fort Bragg Cartel builds on Harp's previous reporting in Rolling Stone. Harp has also written for Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Politico, Wired (magazine), The Intercept, Columbia Journalism Review, The Daily Beast, and The Texas Observer.[4][5][6]
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Reception
 | This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: This section needs to be consolidated and summarized; it is nearly half the length of the article. (July 2026) |
The book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list at number two for print and ebook and number five for hardcover.[7] The New Yorker declared it one of the best nonfiction books of 2025, while Forbes named it one of the top true crime books of the year.[8] The Washington Post described it as "a propulsive and deeply troubling account of military involvement in the drug trade, both domestically and abroad."[9]
Thomas E. Ricks wrote in a review for The New York Times that Harp, though "tendentious, ... is correct in his central claim" surrounding special forces.[2] David Wallace-Wells, also writing for The New York Times, said the book "upends a set of broadly held assumptions about the recent history of the U.S. military."[10]
Publishers Weekly described the book as "[a] blistering exposé of criminality within the U.S. Army's Special Forces," adding that "Harp's investigative rigor and visceral storytelling make this a disturbing must-read."[11] In The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jeff Calder described it as an "explosive investigation into drug dealing, murder, and suicide within America's special operations forces groups, notably superelite Delta Force," and wrote that it was "a book to be taken seriously by the country's political class and military establishment."[12]
"The most affecting parts of The Fort Bragg Cartel are the vignettes Harp collects showing the devastation soldiers inflict on their families," wrote Grayson Scott in The Baffler, referring to the episodes recounted of special operations soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg who killed their wives after deploying multiple times to Afghanistan and struggling with substance abuse. "The characters in his book are middle-class American men, often fathers and usually white, massacring families while high on drugs they bought with money they stole while defending a regime of pedophile warlords."[13]
Dr. Anna Gielas, a historian at the Royal United Services Institute who specializes in research on special operations forces,[14] criticized the book in a review for The Cipher, noting that "readers drawn to true crime will welcome The Fort Bragg Cartel as an entertaining diversion. But those looking for a credible, balanced account of drug use and trafficking inside Delta Force and the U.S. Special Forces will come up short—Harp's book is unconvincing at best, and troubling at worst."[15]
A review for the Washington Independent Review of Books states that "while Harp can't prove that members of U.S. Special Forces took advantage of their privileged status to import drugs and build a domestic cartel using the same thuggery employed during a typical day's work in the endless War on Terror, well, think Occam's razor."[16]
Controversy
In April 2026, it was reported that Courtney Williams, one of Harp's primary sources, was brought up on charges for breaching a part of the Espionage Act after she leaked several files to Mr. Harp for his book and a 2025 Politico article ‘My Life Became a Living Hell’: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit.[17][18]
Adaptation
HBO secured the rights to develop The Fort Bragg Cartel into a television series shortly after its release. Harp will serve as an executive producer alongside Len Amato, former head of HBO Films.[19][20]
See also
References
- "THE FORT BRAGG CARTEL by Seth Harp Read by Dan John Miller". AudioFile Magazine. Kirkus Audiobook Reviews. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
- Ricks, Thomas E. (August 11, 2025). "War Is Hard Enough. It's Harder When You Don't Know Who Is in Charge". The New York Times Book Review. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
- "Seth Harp". New America. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
- Harp, Seth (April 18, 2021). "The Fort Bragg Murders". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
- Harp, Seth (August 12, 2025). "'My Life Became a Living Hell': One Woman's Career in Delta Force, the Army's Most Elite Unit". POLITICO. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
- Harp, Seth (2025). "Mission Impossible: The sad state of the American armed forces". Harper's Magazine. No. October 2025. ISSN 0017-789X. Archived from the original on November 12, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- Manfredi, Lucas (August 28, 2025). "HBO Lands Rights to Seth Harp's 'Fort Bragg Cartel' Bestselling Book for Development". TheWrap. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
- "The Best Books of 2025". The New Yorker. January 22, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
- "Summer reading refill: 24 books to consider before the season ends". The Washington Post. August 8, 2025. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- Wallace-Wells, David. "The Connection Between the Fort Bragg Cartel and the 'Department of War'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- "The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp". Publishers Weekly. May 16, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- Calder, Jeff (July 22, 2025). "How the war on terror fueled the drug trade among the armed forces". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- Scott, Grayson (August 14, 2025). "Pipe Hitters". The Baffler. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- "Anna M Gielas". Royal United Services Institute. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
- Gielas, Anna M. (October 17, 2025). "The Fort Bragg Cartel: High On Hype – A Tabloid Take On Delta and Drugs". The Cipher Brief. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
- Schwartz, William (September 5, 2025). "The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces". Washington Independent Review of Books. Archived from the original on September 15, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
- Breed, Allen G.; Robertson, Gary D. (April 8, 2026). "An Army veteran is charged with sharing classified details of an elite commando unit". Associated Press. Retrieved April 8, 2026.
- Harp, Seth (August 12, 2025). "'My Life Became a Living Hell': One Woman's Career in Delta Force, the Army's Most Elite Unit". Politico. Retrieved April 9, 2026.
- Shanfeld, Ethan (August 28, 2025). "HBO to Develop 'Fort Bragg Cartel' Series About Drug Trafficking and Murder in U.S. Special Forces". Variety. Archived from the original on October 4, 2025. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- Porter, Rick (August 28, 2025). "HBO Wins Bidding War for 'Fort Bragg Cartel' Book to Develop as Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
Further reading
- Goodman, Amy (August 14, 2025). ""The Fort Bragg Cartel": U.S. Special Forces, Drug Trafficking & Murder". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on August 25, 2025. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- Harp, Seth (July 28, 2025). "'Fort Bragg Has a Lot of Secrets. It's Its Own Little Cartel'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 8, 2025. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
External links
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The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
by Seth Harp (Author) Format: Hardcover
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,960)
4.0 on Goodreads
11,937 ratings
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A New Yorker Best Book of 2025
A Forbes Best True Crime Book of 2025
“Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book I’ve read in months.” —David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times
“Propulsive.” —The Washington Post
“Engrossing. . . . Truly shocking.” —The New Republic
“The most mind-blowing piece of investigative journalism I’ve read since Chaos.” —Spike Carter, Air Mail
A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today’s military
In December 2020, a deer hunter discovered two dead bodies that had been riddled with bullets and dumped in a forested corner of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the dead men, Master Sergeant William “Billy” Lavigne, was a member of Delta Force, the most secretive “black ops” unit in the military. A deeply traumatized veteran of America’s classified assassination program, Lavigne had done more than a dozen deployments in his lengthy career, was addicted to crack cocaine, dealt drugs on base, and had committed a series of violent crimes before he was mysteriously killed. The other victim, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, was a quartermaster attached to the Special Forces who used his proximity to clandestine missions to steal guns and traffic drugs into the United States from abroad, and had written a blackmail letter threatening to expose criminality in the special operations task force in Afghanistan.
As soon as Seth Harp, an Iraq war veteran and investigative reporter, begins looking into the double murder, he learns that there have been many more unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg recently, other murders connected to drug trafficking in elite units, and dozens of fatal overdoses. Drawing on declassified documents, trial transcripts, police records, and hundreds of interviews, Harp tells a scathing story of narco-trafficking in the Special Forces, drug conspiracies abetted by corrupt police, blatant military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the pernicious consequences of continuous war.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for The Fort Bragg Cartel
“Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book I’ve read in months is Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces. It’s gripping because it’s a nonfiction narrative written with the energy of a pulpy thriller — full of guns, drugs, murders and coverups. It’s memorable because it documents an almost hard-to-believe scandal — two dead bodies found on a U.S. military base, one an elite Special Forces soldier and the other an Army quartermaster, and their connection to a large-scale weapons-smuggling and narcotics ring.”
—David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times
“A propulsive and deeply troubling account of military involvement in the drug trade, both domestically and abroad.”
—The Washington Post
“Astounding. . . . Nonfiction that reads like a novel.”
—Will Menaker, Chapo Trap House
“Propulsive. . . . Harp opens his story with the killing of one strung-out super-soldier at the hands of a Delta Force operator. Soon, Harp’s aperture widens to a field of death and drug dealing, and to a conspiracy that seems to link the poppy fields of wartime Afghanistan to the U.S. military’s most dangerous fighters.”
—The New Yorker
“Engrossing. . . . Harp chronicles some of the more troubling goings-on in this haunted region and the secretive, self-destructive warrior culture that has defined it for decades. . . . Truly shocking . . . Harp digs into the region’s thrumming undercut of plunder and violence, tracing a bloody trail that includes bullet-riddled bodies, sexual assault, a suspicious drowning, and a severed head. In July 2022, one man even fell from the sky.”
—Jasper Craven, The New Republic
“The most mind-blowing piece of investigative journalism I’ve read since Chaos.”
—Spike Carter, Air Mail
“The Fort Bragg Cartel focuses on the sleazy world of a couple of U.S. Army special operators who got heavily into dealing drugs and using them in vast quantities. . . . It seems that we all are doomed to continue finding new ways to pay the bills—physical, emotional, financial, moral—of wars that never seem to end.”
—Thomas E. Ricks, The New York Times Book Review
“[An] explosive investigation into drug dealing, murder, and suicide within America’s special operations forces groups, notably superelite Delta Force. . . . A book to be taken seriously by the country’s political class and military establishment.”
—Jeff Calder, The Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Unlike most of what passes for military affairs journalism, Harp’s book refuses to abide by the worshipful clichés or even the occasional ‘bad apple’ explanations. To the contrary, Harp paints a picture of Fort Bragg—and with it, the entire military-industrial-carceral complex—that, in keeping with his opening vignette, shows it to be not only pernicious or criminal but downright fratricidal. And this fratricide, far from being contained within the darkest corners of the warfare state, is actively reinforcing an ever more war-addled United States.”
—Lyle Jeremy Rubin, The Nation
“The Fort Bragg Cartel opens like a nonfiction thriller and never lets up. A page-turning investigation into the dark side of our forever wars.”
—Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S
“The characters in his book are middle-class American men, often fathers and usually white, massacring families while high on drugs they bought with money they stole while defending a regime of pedophile warlords, who were themselves extorting a country in which about one-third of people knew how to read. . . . The most affecting parts of The Fort Bragg Cartel are the vignettes Harp collects showing the devastation soldiers inflict on their families.”
—Grayson Scott, The Baffler
“Throughout the early 2020s, there was a wave of disturbing crimes related to the shadowy Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Harp demonstrates that government officials turned a blind eye as JSOC operators stole, killed, raped, and smuggled, shielding them from both military and civilian justice. . . . The wild story of [Freddie Wayne] Huff's rise and fall by itself makes the book worth reading. . . . What all the characters involved in this bizarre saga had in common was a total lack of accountability. As long as America treats JSOC as a warrior caste above the law, some of these warriors will abuse their privileges.”
—Matthew Petti, Reason
“A searing and absolutely essential exposé about the toll that decades of war has taken on our soldiers, our military, and our government. Harp has produced a stunning, masterful work of reporting that every American should read. Riveting and unforgettable.”
—Christopher Leonard, New York Times bestselling author of Kochland and The Lords of Easy Money
“By turns informative, explosive, and provocative, The Fort Bragg Cartel reveals in gritty detail how drugs have corrupted the U.S. Army’s most elite units from the inside out.”
—Sean Naylor, New York Times bestselling author of Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command
“A deeply reported, terrifyingly vivid plunge into the drug-fueled underbelly of life in the U.S. military’s elite special forces. The psychic cost of killing in the name of America haunts every page. This is an anti-war book for our time.”
—Jeff Goodell, New York Times bestselling author of The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
“With The Fort Bragg Cartel, Seth Harp offers a chilling glimpse inside the rotten core of American empire. This book lays bare the secretive cult of U.S. special forces and follows a trail of murder, drug-smuggling, and corruption, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the pine forests of North Carolina. The Fort Bragg Cartel is at once a meticulous investigation of rampant criminality and impunity within Delta Force, a tragic study of young people chewed up and spat out, and a dire warning of the devastation wrought at home and abroad by forever war.”
—Noah Hurowitz, author of El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Drug Lord
“A fantastic book, the best I have seen on the global war on terrorism and the wreckage it left behind. The depth of Harp’s reporting is awesome.”
—Andrew Cockburn, author of The Spoils of War: Profit, Power, and the American War Machine
“A page-turning true crime story that tracks the downward spiral of drug-addled lunatics trained by an immoral government to kill innocent people for political reasons. The implications of this book are more important than ever as the U.S. moves towards fascism in the age of Trump.”
—Christopher Ketcham, author of This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West
“A blistering exposé of criminality within the U.S. Army’s Special Forces. . . . Harp’s investigative rigor and visceral storytelling make this a disturbing must-read for anyone seeking to understand the full cost of America’s overseas conflicts.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In 2020, two bodies were found near Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Harp’s chronicle of a group of soldiers, all of whom were damaged by their experiences in the Middle East, is a tale of drugs and murder and illustrates how such emotional damage can lead to tragic consequences. Harp, an Iraq War veteran and investigative reporter, also shows how colleagues seeking to protect their ‘brothers in arms’ only made matters worse.”
—Booklist
“An unsettling read, the book will nevertheless enlighten anyone concerned about U.S. foreign policy and the role of the military in it. A scathing exposé of drug trafficking, homicide, and suicide in the U.S. military.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“[Harp] knows the law and the military and brings a muckraker’s sensibility to his subject. His revelations keep coming, page after page.”
—The Shepherd Express
About the Author
Seth Harp is an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent. A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, he has reported from countries including Iraq, Syria, Mexico, and Ukraine for Harper’s Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, The Intercept, The Daily Beast, and The Texas Observer. His work has been supported by residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo, and he is a 2025 ASU Future Security Fellow at New America. Before becoming a journalist, Harp practiced law for five years, and was an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. During college and law school, he served in the United States Army Reserve and did one tour of duty in Iraq.
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The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
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Product details
Publisher : Viking
Publication date : August 12, 2025
Language : English
Print length : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593655087
ISBN-13 : 978-0593655085
Item Weight : 1.16 pounds
Dimensions : 6.23 x 1.28 x 9.28 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #12,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#1 in Military Policy (Books)
#17 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
#19 in American Military History
Customer Reviews: 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,960)
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Seth Harp
Seth Harp is an investigative journalist and foreign correspondent who writes about the military, armed conflict, and organized crime. A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, he has reported from countries including Iraq, Syria, Mexico, and Ukraine for publications including Harper’s Magazine, The New Yorker, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, The Intercept, The Daily Beast, and The Texas Observer. His work has been supported by residencies and fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and New America.
Before becoming a journalist, Harp practiced law for five years, and was an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. During college and law school, he served in the United States Army Reserve and did one tour of duty in Iraq.
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345 customer reviews
From the United States
OLD1mIKE
5.0 out of 5 stars A Frightening Account, Worth The Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2026
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Well researched. Well written. Seemed a bit disconnected at times, but easy to read Certainly worth reading.
Details the growth of drug use, drug distribution and murder in the army’s special forces, focusing mostly on those stationed at Fort Brag. It links the psychological pressures placed on individuals during constant redeployment to war zones during the 20 years of the “War on Terror”. Starts with the story of the murder of Sargent 1st class Mark Leshikar by his good friend Master Sargent Willliam Lavigne. Both were involved in drug use and sales that apparently become prevalent in the special forces. Then branches off into the stories of other individuals and into more generic and serious problems. 109 fort Bragg soldiers died between 2020 and 2021. 38 soldiers died at Fort Hood in 2020. 265 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne were expelled from the Army for drug-related misconduct in 2021, and 2022. 9 Fort Bragg soldiers were court-martialed for narcotics offenses. Between January 2017 and September 2022, a total of 15,293 active-duty service members suffered drug overdoses, and 322 of those were fatal (statistics compiled by the Department of Defense). There were at least twenty-four murders involving Fort Bragg soldiers between 2020 and 2024. Many remained unsolved years after the fact. Definitely worth a read.
One person found this helpful
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Ethan
4.0 out of 5 stars Overall a good read, but you have to form your own opinion on the conclusions
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2025
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Overall a good read. There are some compelling arguments and facts that can be linked. But, with the facts being nearly all unable to fully vet due to the sensitive nature of the people under discussion and their occupation, you have to draw your own assumptions on which view you feel strongest about. Also, the last 15 pages or so of the book felt much less factual and more about the author’s feelings. The world described in the books is foreign unless you are in that circle, an outsiders perspective is just a perspective.
10 people found this helpful
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Ky
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and dark
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2025
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Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel is a hard hitting work of investigative journalism that examines a string of violent deaths, drug trafficking, and institutional failures centered around Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty. The book begins with the mysterious 2020 murders of Master Sergeant William “Billy” Lavigne and Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, both tied to U.S. Army Special Operations. From there, Harp expands his investigation into a larger examination of crime, addiction, and corruption within the ranks of America’s most elite soldiers.
Harp’s reporting is extensive. He draws from court documents, autopsy reports, interviews, and declassified files to build a detailed portrait of a community under immense pressure. His core argument is that decades of continuous combat, secrecy, and hero worship have created an environment where misconduct can go unchecked. The book does not claim every Special Forces soldier is involved in wrongdoing, but it suggests systemic blind spots that allow small networks of criminal activity to thrive inside a closed institution.
The author’s narrative style reads more like a thriller than a policy report. Each chapter peels back another layer of intrigue, drug smuggling networks linked to deployments, stolen weapons, unsolved murders, and command decisions that kept problems buried to protect reputations. Harp keeps the story grounded in facts while showing how these cases reflect broader institutional stress from America’s long wars.
Critically, The Fort Bragg Cartel succeeds at connecting individual crimes to the structural pressures of the modern military. It highlights how mental health issues, repeated deployments, and lack of oversight can erode discipline and accountability, even in elite formations. The book also examines how warzone drug economies, especially in Afghanistan, bleed into domestic life once soldiers return home.
The writing is sharp, fast paced, and often uncomfortable. Some critics argue that Harp’s tone is accusatory and occasionally speculative, but even they acknowledge the depth of his research and the importance of the questions he raises.
Overall, The Fort Bragg Cartel is a powerful and unsettling investigation that challenges the public image of Special Operations. It is not a hit piece; it is a mirror held up to the darker consequences of two decades of continuous warfare. For anyone interested in military culture, accountability, or the unseen costs of elite service, it is essential reading.
53 people found this helpful
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XM
5.0 out of 5 stars Gritty, documentary-style reporting—don’t let the "politically bias" chatter scare you off.
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2026
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this isn't a sensationalized thriller; it’s a cold, matter-of-fact look into the hidden underworld of the Special Operations community at Fort Bragg. Having spent time around these types of units, I found Harp’s writing to be authentic—he avoids the "Hollywood" tropes and just lets the gravity of the events do the talking. I was so absorbed in the "how" and "why" of it all that I burned through half the book in a single day. It’s the kind of reporting that doesn’t need to be flashy to be haunting.
While a few side stories might feel a bit disconnected from the core narrative of the main subjects, they effectively build a disturbing picture of a culture where everything is often swept under the rug. Regarding the "political bias" claims: if you can distinguish 99% solid journalism from 1% authorial opinion in the literal last page of the epilouge, you’ll be fine. He presents the facts and lets the reality speak for itself. Go in with an open mind, and I dont think you'll be dissapointed.
16 people found this helpful
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Sam
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but could be better…
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2025
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Good book overall and very well researched. Couple of criticisms:
- Author is annoyingly liberal and there’s an underlying snarky / condescending tone at times that subtracts from the overall quality of the work.
- Book unfortunately contains standard cliche MSNBC stuff, but it’s in manageable doses. It has a whole chapter arguing Delta Force isn’t “diverse enough” (which of course must be due to racism) and that there is too much toxic masculinity where female staffers feel unsafe and asserts that Delta HQ is a frathouse, etc. There are a few other examples of this, basically in several instances the author pushes a predetermined narrative aggressively with fairly flimsy supporting evidence.
That having been said the book is very well researched and absolutely worth the read, it’s a fascinating story. And I appreciated how he went out of his way to paint a very nuanced and human picture of Mr. Lavigne. Good book overall just think tone could he improved in a few places and could be more objective at times.
56 people found this helpful
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JoeSpace
5.0 out of 5 stars The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2025
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Terrifying from the first pages. Believable as these veterans are coming back from a war worse than Vietnam and expected to assimilate into society as if nothing happened during the war. And the US government operates with a fire-and-forget doctrine of abandoning veterans once they part service. It is true that the behavior of these veterans is insane, but what is more insane is the US government acting like people are robots and they can just do what these men did overseas and come home and just get jobs at car washes and cleaning toilets.
I do recall most of these events when they happened. I didn't piece together they were all at one base and all related to the drug trade. Mr. Harp does an elegant job describing (but not naming) a classic CIA SOG (Studies and Observations Group) program. The CIA had conducted these "experiments" many times throughout history, in many places; including in the US. What Mr. Harp is reporting here is nothing new, it's just the worst one yet. We may never know the purpose of these CIA experiments, but we can at least know "about" them. This way we can identify them when they are occurring to one of us or a family member. And when you can identify being in the midst of one of these programs you can start on the road to healing, but more importantly, we can get out of there.
I've read a great deal of war books. This one should be on your list of reads. Know history or you shall see it repeated.
7 people found this helpful
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The Rustic Willow
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A little slow in places but overall well written and informative. I would never have thought that things like this went on in our military.
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Hooch
5.0 out of 5 stars interesting yet seriously disturbing
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2025
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Extremely detailed history of US Special OPs forces and the brutalization of its practitioners. The prevalence of drugs and murderous violence is striking, yet altogether not surprising since Ft. Bragg has been recognized for its high crime rate and numerous murders. Naïvely, I did not know of the Special Forces angle, so it makes more sense now. I liked that the author would quickly remind you of a person or event that had previously been detailed, since there were so many of both. One item that didn't make sense was that, after he complained you couldn't compare per capita rates of anything at a military base populated largely by men of a certain age to a town of comparable size but comprising men, women, children and seniors, he then repeatedly does exactly that when trying to show that the violence, drug use and suicide rates at Ft. Bragg were exceptional. That's a minor flaw since the anomalous nature of Ft. Bragg was obvious by then. This book was hard to put down. But be cautious of sharing it with any conspiracy theorists.
20 people found this helpful
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B R N
2.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity to critique the blowback from our "forever wars"
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This book could have been an excellent examination of the damaging effects that the "forever wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq had on the special operations community and the military in general. However, the author chose to use the case studies as a vehicle to weave a fanciful tale of the origins and use of Delta Force as an assassination squad supported by JSOC. He bases this on a very loose correlation between the respective dates of Delta and JSOC's creation and the conclusion of the Church Committee and enactment of Executive Order 12333, which ended the CIA's ability to conduct assassinations. It is all conjecture without any substantiation at all, and is little more than a conspiracy theory.
I was a member of the special operations and intelligence community throughout the 1990s at Fort Bragg. I knew and worked with members of the Unit, and am well aware of its origins. The author appears to get most of his "inside" information from a single disgruntled former staffer, and while her experience was probably genuinely conveyed, the extrapolation of her bad experiences to the entire organization is not credible. This is a highly compartmented organization and the perspective of a staffer in one department alone is insufficient to make broad generalizations about the whole. Does Delta have some structural problems? Without a doubt. Some of what the author notes is accurate; it is quite monolithic in composition and the Christian nationalism that exists among some members is an issue that exists throughout the military. But, while there are certainly bad apples like Billy Levigne among them, they are not representative of the majority of the members.
Without a doubt, the long wars have had a detrimental effect on not only Delta, but also the entire military. The military is simply not made for such drawn out conflicts, especially when they are used as a major implementor of nation building. The tempo is simply exhausting, and will have a plethora of negative effects on personnel. It will also allow those of poor character to take advantage of situations for their own benefit. The author noted that Chief Dumas dealt with four members of the military who were bringing narcotics into the US from Afghanistan. Four. The author once again extrapolates that into a massive criminal organization existing on Fort Bragg. Yes, he cites a handful of other soldiers at Bragg who brought drugs into the country from elsewhere, but nowhere is there any evidence linking all of these individual cases to the four at Delta. One must keep in mind that Fort Bragg is massive, with nearly 50,000 troops. Compared to a US city of 50,000 people, especially one along the I-95 corridor, the amount of drug crimes on Bragg does not seem to be any worse. Also remember that the main timeframe of the book coincides with the last half decade of the wars, when morale in the military units that had high rotations was at its lowest ebb. Arguably, the units on Bragg, particularly USASOC and the XVIII Airborne Corps, were the most heavily involved in the wars, so it is not surprising that the rate of suicides and crime there were higher than other bases.
Another problem with the book is the author's assertion that the US had assassination teams going out nightly in Iraq and Afghanistan to murder their targets. As with his recounting of the origins of Delta, the author offers practically no evidence of this. Yes, there were "capture/kill" teams sent out nightly that were targeting high value enemies. But the "capture" part is the main goal; the "kill" aspect is only if the target resists with deadly force. Why? Because the targets typically are persons in key positions within the opposition, and they will be a source of valuable information--intelligence that can be used to develop more lucrative targets. There is simply no reason to kill someone unless they pose an immediate threat. Of course, there are examples of bad actors who took advantage of these situations to kill with impunity, but the author offers no evidence that they are not the exception to the rule. Remember, Ed Gallagher was turned in by his own teammates--this is something that the author seems to miss often in his own stories: other special ops personnel turning in bad actors among themselves [Gallagher's subsequent whitewashing by the Trump administration was despicable]. The author does paraphrase things that he read in Gen. Stanley McChrystal's book in an attempt to justify his interpretation of the creation of the night raids, but the paraphrasing is highly inaccurate. Gen. McChrystal and Adm. McRaven, who the author also besmirches, are among the two most highly respected and honorable special ops commanders of our generation. The author's biased opinion of them is unwarranted.
Perhaps the most useful information in the book, beyond the negative effects of the "forever wars" on the military, is the preferential treatment that military members get from local law enforcement and the justice system. Without a doubt, this is among the most troubling things exposed by the book, and it is well supported by evidence. However, this is not something that exists in isolation in our country; people in privileged positions often are treated this way. The question is whether the military aspect is something else that has evolved from the wars--are soldiers perceived to be a special class that is given wide latitude due to the perception that they are heroes by virtue of the sacrifices so many have made during the wars? I would have liked to see this line of question further pursued by the author.
Finally, while there are many other unsubstantiated claims of fact by the author (like that the US government could stop the flow of drugs into the country if it wanted to--a well-known conspiracy theory), there is one that stands out above the rest, and should make everyone question his motives. Harp claims that Viktor Yanukovich was removed as president of Ukraine by a coup supported by the US. This is a gross misstatement of fact. After having nearly 100 protestors murdered, he was removed from power by parliament--including members of his own political party (which soon completely disavowed their disgraced leader). I suggest the author speak with those who lived through his presidency and ask them about the Berkut. Yanukovich was removed from power by the people of Ukraine due to his overwhelming corruption and decision to turn his back on EU membership. Yes, it was in the interest of the US for this to happen, but to intimate that the US was behind it is ridiculous. Perhaps Harp prefers Russian narratives.
In sum, the core cases of misdeeds by the military members that constitutes perhaps half the book are very enlightening about the state of the military after two decades of war, and the terrible response of the local and military justice system. Everything else in the book needs to be thrown into the trash. In light of the extensive unsubstantiated assertions by the author, I am shocked by the quantity of positive reviews the book has received. Certainly, his negative opinion of the US government and military is a popular sentiment, and one can only assume many have read this book without a critical eye and merely like the book because they agree with the author’s viewpoint. The major unsubstantiated claims warrant a one-star rating in my opinion, but the content about the core cases and terrible response by the justice system is laudable. No one should be given preferential treatment by virtue of their position.
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Dr. Wolfe
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Title (True Story)
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
The title caught my eye, because it was a true story, I had a best friend whom was special forces at Ft. Bragg around that time and I had never heard of any issues about drugs down there.
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D
4.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly surprised...
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2026
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... I grew up in Lexington, NC and went to college in towns not from Fort Bragg. Although I was fortunate enough not to meet people like the ones described in this book, I am convinced they exist still and things are likely not going to change. Good reporting here.
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Rufus Bellows
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2026
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It's amazing to see how much the government covers up crimes nor cares about morality. Everything is fake and this book proves it.
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Robyn Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars good book
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
great book. never thought that military men would be into drugs and prostitution but, their human too.
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Jonathan Edwards
3.0 out of 5 stars great first half
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2026
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Last half of the book was poorly stitched together across various plots. Overall good book, but it should have been half as long.
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Christopher D Maki
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
What an eye opening experience reading this, incredible amount of research done by the author who turns it into an enjoyable read.
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AB77
3.0 out of 5 stars Author Gets Political But Book is Mildly Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Interesting book. In some way very eye opening. A lot of research. The only problem is the author couldn't help himself from making the book a political statement at the end. Stick to writing and research, but he went way off track.
2 people found this helpful
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Randy Fontenot
2.0 out of 5 stars Most disappointing "Special Forces" focused book I've ever read
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2025
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
My honest reaction to the book is meh. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't good. The author wreaks of someone who was spurned by an operator, or the community, and is out to discredit them. After 21 years of active-duty service I can tell you that the military is a microcosm of society. Much like in the civilian community, every career field in the military has bad human beings who can be found within it if one looks hard enough. The numbers are simply smaller making it easier to skew stats that make it appear as though an entire community has lost its way. For example, I witnessed a large section of a Logistics Readiness unit get apprehended after a lengthy drug investigation. Does that make the entire LR community bad human beings? I arrested a Chaplains assistant for attempted murder. Is that indicative of all Chaplains assistants? The author rolls the entire population of Fort Bragg into the stats for a book that is sold as “Special Forces” at Fort Bragg. If the book is intended to be solely about Special Forces, then provide those stats, not the entirety of Fort Bragg. He covers multiple events carried out by members of career fields outside of Special Forces. If the cases captured in the book, while all horrible events, aren’t special forces related, why include them in a book meant to point out how horrible special operators are (the 82nd is not a special forces unit)? Finally, the book is drenched with anti-Trump propaganda. I’m not a Trump fan, but I’m also tired of people blaming the man for everything that has gone wrong in the world since 2015. The bad apples in the special forces community didn’t become bad apples on 20 January 2017 as the author would have you believe. Many of the issues in the operator community have existed since the inception of special forces. To pin this on one man who was sworn in in January 2017 is not only misleading it’s irresponsible. All of this said, if you read the book, be prepared for very little focus on special forces and a large dose of anti-military/America sentiment with a side of “TDS” from a seemingly spurned veteran with a large axe to grind.
35 people found this helpful
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Framo
5.0 out of 5 stars Fort Bragg
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Very interesting read if you know the area.
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Stanley C Varga
3.0 out of 5 stars interesting story
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
pretty good read but the author is a bit of a douche often referring to White ppl as cowboys riding into a western town to clean it up and describes a White State Policeman as a pink colored person. Obvious disdain for the current administration which doesn't have much if any bearing on the story. In case you didn't know a female named in the book was arrested a few weeks ago by the FBI for revealing classified info to help the author write this book. The story is good the author not so much
7 people found this helpful
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kyle c.
3.0 out of 5 stars Predictable outcomes not even considered
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2026
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Seems a bit politically slanted. The author leads the reader to conclude the problem stems from a culture of permissiveness, rather than the most obvious cause of drug problems within this unique community, which is that these high performers have been stressed and traumatized beyond human endurance. Over and over, with an unrealistic expectation that there wouldn’t be any breaking point. Then blaming the individuals and the system for failing to root out the bad actors. Rather than recognizing the consequences of pushing super human performance past breaking points.
3 people found this helpful
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